Cape Town’s tourism sector suffered yet another blow after United Airlines confirmed it has dropped the province from its 2020 winter schedule. The airline does however plan to relaunch flights to Cape Town in October 2021.
The airline cites the impact COVID-19 has had on its worldwide schedule for the cancellation.
Speaking to Travel News, a spokesperson for United Airlines said: ‘United Airlines will relaunch its seasonal winter service between Cape Town and New York/Newark for the 2021 (Northern hemisphere) winter travel season. The airline looks forward to beginning a new, non-stop daily service between Johannesburg and New York/Newark on March 28, 2021.’
The flight between Johannesburg and the USA, scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2021, remains unaffected.
‘It’s a pity, but we understand their decision due to the current circumstances and are working with them towards re-launch in October 2021,’ said Paul van den Brink, senior project manager of Cape Town Air Access, in response to United Airline.
It is not all bad news for Capetonians though. On November 23, Lufthansa airlines reinstated weekly flights between Frankfurt and Cape Town, and are looking to add an additional three flights per week from Cape Town to Munich starting on December 14.
In terms of domestic flights, Cape town has reached capacity levels of 45% throughout November. According to David King, Joint Project Manager at Cape Town Air Access : ‘With Comair returning and Lift starting in December, we will see capacity going up to about 60% compared with December last year.’
Picture: Twitter/@united
